When people talk about the legacy or what makes for a great Jurassic Park film, the focus is usually on groundbreaking visual effects, John Williams’ score, or the super believable on-screen dinosaur moments. Far less discussed is that, during production, the original JP cast and crew found themselves in genuine danger. And I'm not talking about animatronics or special effects but a real-life natural disaster, and franchise OG Sam Neill laid out the entire ordeal.
That experience was revisited just recently via a new interview Neill gave to Entertainment Weekly, as he reflected on returning to the role of Dr. Alan Grant for a Super Bowl commercial. In the process, Neill recalled surviving Hurricane Iniki while filming the movie in Hawaii in 1992. At the time, production had been underway for more than a week. One morning, the cast arrived early as usual, only to be told filming would not continue that day. He explained:
